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Friday March 12, 2010
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Friday March 12, 2010
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The Charlotte Observer and The Miami Herald each won 2009 Gerald Loeb Awards June 29, among the highest honors in business journalism.
Charlotte Observer reporter Rick Rothacker won a Loeb Award for beat writing for "The Fall of Wachovia," his coverage last year of Charlotte-based Wachovia Corp., its collapse and ultimate takeover by Wells Fargo & Co.Rothacker tied for the beat writing award with Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times business columnist Gretchen Morgenson, who won for her coverage of Wall Street.In the medium and small newspapers category, The Charlotte Observer won an honorable mention for "The Cruelest Cuts," the paper's highly decorated investigation into the poultry industry, which has already won more than seven national awards. "The Cruelest Cuts" told readers how N.C.-based House of Raeford Farms hid injuries from federal regulators, blocked injured workers from seeing doctors and hauled others to work hours after surgery for broken bones and severed fingers. Staffers who worked on the series included Ames Alexander, Franco Ordonez, Kerry Hall, Peter St. Onge and Ted Mellnik.Jack Dolan, Matthew Haggman and Rob Barry of The Miami Herald won a Loeb Award in the medium and small newspapers category for "Borrowers Betrayed," an investigation into the Florida mortgage crisis that revealed, among other findings, that thousands with criminal pasts were working in the mortgage industry and peddling home loans.The Loeb Awards were established in 1957 and are administered by the UCLA Anderson School of Management. The prizes were announced during an awards ceremony June 29 in New York City.The Charlotte Observer's widely lauded investigation of working conditions in the poultry industry has won yet another prestigious award: a 2009 Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism.
The Journalism Center on Children & Families, a nonprofit affiliate of the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism, announced June 24 that "The Cruelest Cuts" received a Casey Medal in the project/series category for publications with greater than 200,000 circulation.The Charlotte Observer shared the top projects prize with USA Today, which also received a Casey Medal in the category for its investigation into the impact of industrial pollution on schools and children."The Cruelest Cuts," reported by Ames Alexander, Kerry Hall, Franco Ordoñez, Peter St. Onge and Ted Mellnik, told readers how N.C. poultry giant House of Raeford Farms hid injuries from federal regulators, blocked injured workers from seeing doctors and hauled others to work -- hours after surgery for broken bones and severed fingers.The investigation, published in 2008, has won several other national awards, including a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, the National Headliner award, Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Newspapers and the American Society of Newspaper Editors' first place award for local accountability reporting.Casey Medal winners receive a medal and a $1,000 prize. More details are available here.Veteran Miami Herald photographer Patrick Farrell was awarded journalism's biggest award April 20, the Pulitzer Prize, for his harrowing images of the victims of the storms that ravaged Haiti in 2008.
Farrell, 49, visited Haiti half a dozen times during last year's hurricane season, capturing scenes of the dead and the survivors of a series of storms that generated devastating flooding across the impoverished nation. (See his Pulitzer-winning photography here.)He was in Haiti the night Hurricane Ike -- the fourth storm to hit there in a month -- washed across the already overwhelmed countryside, drowning even more homes and people.Farrell's published photographs, along with stories by Miami Herald Caribbean correspondent Jacqueline Charles and Miami Herald reporter Trenton Daniel, are credited with helping raise international awareness of the storms' toll on Haiti and its people's struggle to survive in the aftermath."Patrick's photography is the most provocative and at times disturbing storytelling work that I have seen or edited," said Luis Rios, The Miami Herald's director of photography. "It is exceptional documentary photography with a purpose -- to chronicle the misery and heartache of the Haitian people."The Pulitzer Prize jurors recognized a package of 19 black-and-white photographs, entitled "A People in Despair: Haiti's Year Without Mercy." The images range from the flooded streets of Gonaives, to the aftermath of a storm-related school collapse in Port au Prince, and the deadly toll on children in the rural town of Cabaret who were washed away from their parents' grasp by rushing floodwaters.In all, more than 800 Haitians died and more than 1 million were left homeless by the unrelenting series of storms.Farrell's Haiti photographs have also won the Society of Professional Journalists' 2008 Sigma Delta Chi Award for excellence in journalism in Photography Spot News, as well as awards in the Pictures of the Year International competition and the 75th National Headliner Awards.Farrell, a Miami native, has been a Herald staff photographer since 1987. His Herald assignments have taken him to Turkey, Haiti, Cuba and throughout Central and South America, as well as the Caribbean. He was part of the Herald staff that won the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for the coverage of Hurricane Andrew's devastation in South Florida.The Charlotte Observer's investigation of working conditions in the poultry industry has won the 2009 award for outstanding domestic newspaper reporting from the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice in Human Rights.
"The Cruelest Cuts," reported by Ames Alexander, Kerry Hall, Franco Ordoñez, Peter St. Onge and Ted Mellnik, told readers how N.C. poultry giant House of Raeford Farms hid injuries from federal regulators, blocked injured workers from seeing doctors and hauled others to work -- hours after surgery for broken bones and severed fingers."Based on exhaustive research, this report exposes how the poultry industry ignored and threatened workers injured on the job, while creating an illusion of safety inside their plant," wrote judges."These companies employed practices which boosted profits while jeopardizing the health of thousands of vulnerable poultry workers. The investigation built an air-tight case against a private company resulting in federal and state investigations and tougher labor legislation."It marks the third time The Charlotte Observer has won an RFK award, which honors reporting on issues that reflect Robert F. Kennedy's concerns, including human rights, social justice and the power of individual action. The newspaper won the center's grand prize in 1980 for its series on brown lung disease among textile workers.Observer Editor Rick Thames noted the investigation took two years, partly because the large number of Latinos in the poultry work force presented language and cultural barriers. Many of those workers feared that speaking out about abuse could lead to job loss or deportation."This award ... recognizes the most precious value of a newspaper in a free society," said Thames. "Only a newspaper would have spent months getting beyond the official explanations of government and business to discover what was really happening inside the Carolinas poultry industry. And only a newspaper would have pressed on after learning that many of the abused workers only spoke Spanish and had few, if any, rights."The House of Raeford could count on the second-class status of these workers to help keep them compliant. It could count on the state's labor department to look the other way under the pretext of a business-friendly climate. It could count on failed federal immigration policies to regularly replenish its exploitable work force."What it could not count on was this newspaper, which operates independently of all of those institutions."The investigation has won five other national awards, including the National Headliner award, Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Newspapers and the American Society of Newspaper Editors' first place award for local accountability reporting.The RFK Journalism Awards will be presented May 28 at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. A grand prize will be awarded to one of the category winners.Winners receive a cash prize and a bust of Kennedy created by Robert Berks. More details: www.rfkcenter.orgGary McCann, sports editor at The Herald in Rock Hill, S.C. for the past 10 years, was inducted into U.S. Basketball Writers Association's Hall of Fame April 6 at the NCAA Men's Final Four in Detroit.
He is among just 53 writers to have ever received the distinction.McCann, in his 38th year as a sportswriter, has covered 18 Final Fours and numerous ACC tournaments. He has won 10 USBWA wrting awards and more than 20 other state and national writing awards.For the second time in his career, Kansas City Star editorial cartoonist Lee Judge has won the esteemed Fischetti Award for editorial cartooning.
Judge won the 2009 Fischetti Award for his "Price of Gas," an anti-war cartoon depicting a soldier's helmet perched on a rifle.Judge, who has been with The Kansas City Star since 1981, holds the distinction of winning the very first Fischetti Award in 1982."The timing is wonderful," said Judge in the press release announcing his first-place win. "My job has recently become part-time and to win a prestigious, national award like this gives encouragement not only to me, but to the editors who fought to keep my cartoons in the paper."Editorial cartooning is struggling to survive, not because it lacks popularity, but because it's often not deemed absolutely crucial. I strongly disagree. If we're in a battle for readers, why get rid of the one person on a staff best equipped to compete with television and the internet?"The Fischetti Award is named after John Fischetti, the late Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist who worked for the New York Herald Tribune, the Chicago Daily News and the Chicago Sun-Times. The awards competition is administered and funded by the Fischetti Endowment at Columbia College Chicago.Judge, along with two runners up, will be honored at a reception in Chicago April 16.A McClatchy series on detainee abuse at U.S. prison facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in Afghanistan tied for top honors as the best newspaper investigative report of last year.
Investigative Reporters and Editors, the country's most prestigious organization of watchdog journalists, said on March 31 that the five-part series, Guantanamo: Beyond the Law," by McClatchy reporters Tom Lasseter and Matthew Schofield, "allowed the American public to find out what really happened at Gitmo and other American detention camps.""Equally impressive," the judges wrote, "was the commitment of the newspaper chain: The thorough findings in a five-part series were published on the front pages of 25 McClatchy newspapers."The series, initiated and coordinated by the McClatchy Washington Bureau, was based on interviews by Lasseter and Schofield with 66 former Guantanamo detainees, whom they tracked down in 11 countries over an eight-month period. It found that many of those swept up and transferred to Guantanamo had little, if anything, to do with international terrorism and that some actually had been allied with U.S. forces.The report also documented abuse at U.S. facilities in Afghanistan, where many of the former detainees said they'd been treated more severely than at Guantanamo, and quoted detainees who said the abuse had turned them from admirers of the U.S. into enemies.The series remains the largest systematic effort to document the experiences of people held at Guantanamo. It included an extensive Internet component, with a searchable database, individual stories on each of the detainees, videos of the detainees and an archive of official U.S. documents.Travis Heying, a photographer and videographer for McClatchy's Wichita Eagle newspaper, accompanied Lasseter on many of the critical interviews in Afghanistan.The project, which totaled nearly 108,000 words, can be viewed at www.mcclatchydc.com/detainees.The series tied for first place with the Detroit Free Press investigation of an affair between the Detroit mayor and an aide. The Free Press fought for four years to force the release of hundreds of text messages that documented the affair and proved that the city's subsequent payout of more than $9 million was an effort to cover up their lies.Five McClatchy newspapers were named among the winners March 24 in the Society of American Business Editors and Writers 14th annual "Best in Business" contest.
The Kansas City Star was honored for overall excellence as one of the three best newspaper business sections in the country among large newspapers with daily circulation of 225,000 to 325,000. It was the Star's second SABEW business section best in the last four years. The Miami Herald was also honored for overall excellence and named one of the three best business sections in the country among midsized newspapers with daily circulation of 125,000 to 225,000.The Charlotte Observer, meanwhile, won six awards overall, the highest number of awards among midsized newspapers. The six awards -- which stem from the paper's banking coverage and its investigation into the poultry industry -- are the most the newspaper has won in the 14 years SABEW has held its Best in Business contest.Each winning entry is now being considered for SABEW’s first-ever "Best of the Best" awards, honoring the very best of business journalism produced at newspapers, magazines and websites during 2008. Best of the Best winners will be announced April 27 in Denver.McClatchy’s individual award winners include:** The Charlotte Observer's coverage of Wells Fargo's surprise bid for Wachovia in the Breaking News category. Winners are reporters Rick Rothacker, Christina Rexrode, Jen Aronoff, Kerry Hall, Elizabeth Leland, Eric Frazier, Lisa Zagaroli, Jefferson George and Doug Smith; graphic artist Bill Pitzer; and editors Patrick Scott and Tony Mecia.** Reporter Andrew McIntosh at The Sacramento Bee in the Enterprise category for large publications for coverage of nail gun safety problems.** Reporter Rick Rothacker at The Charlotte Observer in the Enterprise category for his story "The Good Deal That Wasn't" on how the Golden West Financial deal weakened Wachovia and made it ripe for a takeover by Wells Fargo.**Mitchell Schnurman at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram in the Columns category for midsized publications.** The Charlotte Observer for "The Cruelest Cuts," the paper’s investigation into the poultry industry, in the Projects category. The paper's investigation told readers how N.C.-based House of Raeford Farms hid injuries from federal regulators, blocked injured workers from seeing doctors and hauled others to work hours after surgery for broken bones and severed fingers. Winners are reporters Ames Alexander, Kerry Hall, Franco Ordonez and Peter St. Onge; photographer John Simmons; database editor Ted Mellnik; copy editors Reid Creager and Rogelio Aranda; designer Holly Farrant; graphic artists Bill Pitzer and Dave Puckett; online producers Dave Enna and Tony Lone Fight; staff researchers Marion Paynter and Maria David; and editors Jim Walser, Gary Schwab, Mitch Weiss, Glenn Burkins and Patrick Scott.** Reporters Matthew Haggman, Rob Barry and Jack Dolan at The Miami Herald in the Projects category for midsized publications for "Borrowers Betrayed," an investigation into the Florida mortgage crisis.** The Charlotte Observer for online excellence in the Breaking News category for coverage of Wells Fargo's takeover of Wachovia. Winning reporters are Rick Rothacker, Christina Rexrode, Jefferson George, Kirsten Valle, Jen Aronoff, Stella M. Hopkins, Fred Clasen-Kelly, Kerry Hall and Doug Smith; and online producers Deirdre McGruder, Trevor Freeze and Tony Lone Fight.** The Charlotte Observer for "The Cruelest Cuts" in the online Projects category. Winners are reporters Ames Alexander, Peter St. Onge, Franco Ordonez and Kerry Hall; photographer John Simmons; video producer Peter Weinberger; graphic artist Bill Pitzer; and online producer Tony Lone Fight.** Jason Gertzen and David Hayes at The Kansas City Star for their "Sprint Connection" blog in the Blog category for large websites. The blog focuses on Sprint Nextel, the Kansas City region's largest private employer.** The Charlotte Observer for "Cruelest Cuts" in the Creative Use of Online category. Winners are reporters Ames Alexander, Franco Ordonez, Kerry Hall and Peter St. Onge; database editor Ted Mellnik; copy editors Reid Creager and Rogelio Aranda; designer Holly Farrant; graphic artists Dave Puckett and Bill Pitzer; photographer John Simmons; online producers Dave Enna and Tony Lone Fight; video producer Peter Weinberger; staff researchers Marion Paynter and Maria David; and editors Jim Walser, Gary Schwab, Mitch Weiss, Glenn Burkins and Patrick Scott.Nothing in the sports journalism world has been quite as consistent as Kansas City Star columnist Joe Posnanski winning national awards.
Posnanski has been honored in nearly every writing category of the Associated Press Sports Editors contest over the last decade. Last month, Posnanski was recognized again as one of the nation's best sports columnists -- his eighth consecutive year in the Top 10.The final rankings will be announced in April; Posnanski has won first place twice.In APSE section judging, The Kansas City Star's "Sports Daily" continued its tradition of excellence by placing two out of three sections (daily and special) in the Top 10.The Sunday section received honorable mention. Over the last 10 years, competing against the biggest sports sections in the nation, the Star has claimed a stunning 23 out of 30 section Top 10s. That national "winning percentage" places Sports Daily among the top five for most decorated large-circulation sports sections over that span of time.Sports Daily writers also won two other Top 10 awards last month: Bill Reiter for explanatory journalism; and a team of Blair Kerkhoff, Brady McCollough, Jason Whitlock, Reiter and Posnanski for project reporting.It is the sixth straight showing in projects for the Star.A Charlotte Observer investigation into the multibillion dollar poultry industry -- including N.C.-based House of Raeford Farms -- has been awarded the Taylor Family Award for Fairness in Newspapers.
The Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, which administers the Taylor Award, announced the honor March 16 for "The Cruelest Cuts," reported by Ames Alexander, Kerry Hall, Franco Ordoñez and Peter St. Onge.The investigation, which also was produced by more than a dozen editors, photographers and designers, told readers how House of Raeford Farms hid injuries from federal regulators, blocked injured workers from seeing doctors and hauled others to work hours after surgery for broken bones and severed fingers."The Charlotte Observer's 'Cruelest Cuts' gives a voice to people who are rarely afforded one, and helped foster greater safety in an industry known for its unsafe and unsavory working conditions,” said Taylor Award judge Christine Chinlund. "The series opened with strong assertions but managed to support each one with facts and solid reporting. It did so even as it provided ample room for company response."Said judge Howard Witt: "This is a path-breaking series in the realm of fairness in journalism because it demonstrates why fairness is not merely an obligatory journalistic rule but a living, breathing value that, rigorously pursued, can make a story infinitely richer and more insightful."The Taylor Award program was established through an endowment by members of the Taylor family, who published The Boston Globe from 1872 to 1999. The Charlotte Observer will receive the award April 16 in Cambridge, Mass.
The McClatchy Company